Categories and Screening Process

< Award Types and Judging Criteria >

For the PS Award, we evaluate as comprehensively excellent companies and organizations in the categories of "Manufacturers and Importers," "Retailer," "Organisations / Associations," "Businesses" and "Online Marketplaces" that have initiated or are making outstanding (advanced, proactive and ambitious) efforts in any of the following perspectives.

Manufacturers and Importers Category

Award Type

Department	Award Details
Small & Medium Manufacturers and Importers Category	METI Minister's Award Director-General for Technology Policy Coordination and Industrial and Product Safety's Award Excellence Award (Committee Award)
Large Manufacturers and Importers Category	METI Minister's Award Director-General for Technology Policy Coordination and Industrial and Product Safety's Award Excellence Award (Committee Award)

Retailer Category

Award Type

Department	Award Details
Small and Medium Retailers Category	METI Minister's Award Director-General for Technology Policy Coordination and Industrial and Product Safety's Award Excellence Award (Committee Award)
Large Retailers Category	METI Minister's Award Director-General for Technology Policy Coordination and Industrial and Product Safety's Award Excellence Award (Committee Award)

Organisations / Associations Category

Award Type

Department	Award Details
Organisations / Associations Category	Special Award (Committee Award)

Businesses Category

Award Type

Department	Award Details
Businesses Category	Special Award (Committee Award)

Online Marketplaces Category

Award Type

Department	Award Details
Online Marketplaces Category	Special Award (Committee Award)

Judging Criteria (Four Perspectives)

View1 : Initiative on each business (manufacture / import) of safe products

Specific examples: Product development for the socially vulnerable including the elderly, development and operation of risk assessment methods, etc.

View2 : Initiatives for consumers to use products safely

Specific examples: Provision of information on safe usage, collection and analysis of user status using IoT and big data, etc.

View3 : Measures when the safety problems are revealed after shipment

Specific examples: Cooperative system across the entire supply chain, recall decision based on risk assessment, etc.

View4 : Activities to promote product safety culture

Specific examples: Implementation of a supplier commendation system, development of human resources within the company and business partners, dissemination of information on the company's product safety initiatives to stakeholders, etc.

^*Product safety initiatives evaluated over a period of approximately three years from April 1, 2019 to the time of review.

^*Please refer to the application materials for the judging criteria for the special awards, including the Online Marketplaces Category.

< Schedule for the 2023 Screening >

Application starts: Monday, April 3rd

Fill out and submit the application form.

Attendance at the Individual Consultation Session is not required to apply.

Deadline: Friday, July 21st

Primary Screening (Document Screening): End of July to early August

After screening of documents, companies will be selected for the second round of screening.

Secondary screening
Presentation Screening: Week of August 28th or September 4th
Field Survey (if necessary): Week of September 11th, 18th, or 25th

A presentation screening (scheduled to be online) will be performed for companies who make it past the secondary screening.

Announcement of Award Winners: Mid-November

The winning companies will be announced in a press release by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Awards Ceremony: Wednesday, December 6th

＜Requests to applicant companies＞

^*Applicants are requested to secure a schedule for the second round of screening.

^*Since the second screening will be held immediately after the first screening, please prepare for the presentation and field appraisal in advance.

Judging Committee Members

Listed in Japanese order, titles and honorifics are omitted

Chairman of the judging committee

Etsuko Kugimiya: Consumer Affairs Advisor

Member of the judging committee

Hiroaki Ishibashi: MANAGING EDITOR, Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun
Ryuzo Oshita: Head Manager, Product Safety Technology Center, National Institute of Technology and Evaluation
Toshiyuki Kajiya: Director, The Institute of Global Safety Promotion.
Hajime Kitahara: Former General Manager of the Quality Control Department of Gold Product Safety Companies
Mariko Tokoro: Vice President, Center for Child Daycare Safety
Satoko Natsume: President, NPO Familiar-net
Yoshifumi Nishida: Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology Invited Researcher, Artificial Intelligence Research Center of AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)
Yoshiki Mikami: Vice President, Kaishi Professional University
Masaru Yoshida: Editor-in-chief, Nikkei Monozukuri, Nikkei Business Publications, Inc.
Yuichi Washida: Professor, Hitotsubashi University